Marrying the Woman I Hate
by queenOhearts
Summary: Sequel to "Reasons I Hate Santana Lopez" Sebastian Smythe plans on proposing to the love (and hate) of his life. Easy? Nothing is ever easy when it involves Santana Lopez.
1. Chapter 1

Marrying the Woman I Hate

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of its characters.

AN : Hello all! I have decided to write a sequel to my story "Reasons Why I Hate Santana Lopez". For those of you that have read it, I am so excited and thankful that you are continuing on with me. For those of you that are new, it is not necessary to read the first story, but you are welcome to it. Anyways, enjoy!

.

.

.

.

.

Chapter 1

Sebastian Smythe was a cool and collected young man. He stood in the silence of his and Santana Lopez 's shared bedroom, arms crossed and eyes shut in concentration. In that moment he was the picture of calm preserved, but the state of his mind was anything but.

His thoughts raged in, what seemed to him, a million different directions. The internal struggle he was facing battled his mind and his instincts, one telling him to run for his dear life and the other reasoning that things had changed and that everything would be alright. Fear gripped him but he decided to listen to reason.

The only problem was figuring out what to do now.

Mind settled, he traveled to his school bag to retrieve a notebook, one of the last places he expected Santana to go digging through. Pulling out his favorite pen he started a list to organize his thoughts.

"Proposing to Santana: to-do list"

1\. Make lunch reservations.

2\. Call Artie. Ask him to help you make "the video".

3\. Make the video.

4\. Ask drive-ins for a favor. Or pay them. Either one works as long they say yes.

5\. Call her friends. Ask them to taker her out on the morning of to get primped. They MUST be discreet.

6\. Ask mom, and her mom for rings.

7\. Take rings in to shop for sizing and setting. Do NOT forget to steal one of her rings to match the size.

8\. Ask Santana out on a date.

9\. Get a haircut.

10\. Propose

Sebastian sat back and read over his list. He wanted everything to be perfect, although a very small part of him also wanted everything to go horribly wrong. That was the part of him that was still traumatized from a life spent with Santana Lopez.

Knowing his luck, everything would go horribly wrong.

In the distance he heard the soft click of keys unlocking the front door of the apartment before he heard the door open and Santana call out for him. Faster than the Flash, he stuffed his notebook back into his school bag. Taking a deep breath, he stood up to meet her and to calm his nerves. Speaking to himself, he whispered "Okay, let's go."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of its characters.

AN: Short chapter. I'm thinking of keeping them pretty short and making the proposal pretty decent. I don't know yet, well see where my inspiration takes me.

.

.

.

STEP 1: Make lunch reservations

When Sebastian set forth to complete the first step of his to do list, he really thought it would be the easiest step to fulfill. He had spent months listening to Santana go on and on about all the places she wanted to go eat so he figured if he could book just one of the restaurants everything would be fine.

Gramercy Tavern- completely booked for months. Le Bernadin- Doesn't serve lunch. Union Square Café- not taking reservations. And the list went on and on. Of course Santana had to be interested in only the most popular restaurants in all of New York. By the time he had called every eatery on her "must-visit-before-I-die" list, which really translates to "you-had-better-take-me-before-you-die" list, he had lost every hope he had of getting into any good establishment on the day of his proposal. He bet that if he called McDonald's they would be out of service for routine maintenance that day.

A groan rumbled from his throat as he fell forward onto the kitchen table, his hands combing through his gelled hair. As he contemplated what to do next, two small hands smoothed up his back, over his shoulders, and onto his chest as a kiss was placed on his cheek.

Santana 's silky voice slid into his ears. "Whatcha doing, baby?" She asked, nuzzling his neck.

"Facing my impending doom," Sebastian sighed as he let his head fall back onto her shoulder.

"Maybe I can help," she squeezed him softly.

He jumped up and grabbed his phone, digging it into his pocket. "Nope! No need! It's something I have to do in my own" his rushed words came out as he tried backing out of the kitchen.

Santana stood up tall, placing her hands on her hips, her eyes gazing at him carefully. "Since when," she drawled, voice dripping with acid, "have you not been able to tell me anything since we started dating?"

"Since you pledged to the religion of 'what's yours is mine, and what's mine is mine'. Nothing is sacred with you, hence the nickname."

From across the room he could see her eyebrows dip as her stare became a glare. Ever so slowly she started to move forward, heels clicking on the hardwood with each step. When she finally reached him, he looked down at her with cool eyes, trying to ignore her hand that was sliding up his stomach. "Please, tell me what you're hiding," she asked innocently. To bad for her, he was used to her manipulations.

It was time to turn the tables.

Sebastian slipped his own hands onto her hips, massaging them for a brief moment before sliding upward underneath her shirt to touch her skin. "What would you be willing to give me in return?" His breath falling on her skin, raising visible goosebumps along the flesh of her neck that made him smirk.

"How about you get to keep your girlfriend," she gave him a fake smile as her nails dug into his abs.

He laughed, "Oh really, you'd do me that favor? In that case I'll keep it to myself. Emily from downstairs had been paying extra attention to me when I run into the lobby. Maybe this is my opening to make a move."

His playful jab had exactly the effect he wanted. Santana pulled away from him, hands moving back to her hips as her eyes burned into his own. "Who the fuck is Emily?"

His shoulders lifted in a nonchalant shrug. "Oh, just some girl who lives on the second floor. But what does it matter to you? Aren't you leaving me?"

"Oh hell no! No bitch makes a move on my man!" She yelled as she stormed to the front door.

"Where are you going" Sebastian asking, trying to restrain a chuckle.

"I'm going to break down every door on the second floor 'til I find her sorry ass. If she didn't know God before today, she'll be on speaking terms with him once I'm done with her" Santana growled, slamming the front door behind her. Sebastian could swear he heard her say from the other side something about Emily being uglier than at rat before she was too far away to hear.

Crisis averted. His girl was off finding an imaginary woman named Emily somewhere in the apartment building, having completely forgotten about the information she was trying to coerce from him.

He took a deep breath to calm his nerves. What to do now? He couldn't make lunch reservations at any of the places she had been dying to go, so what now.

Then it came to him. He would take her to the restaurant she had taken him to on his twenty-first birthday. While it wasn't a place on her list, he knew it was a spot she loved. He called them up and almost cried when they were able to secure a reservation for him.

Just as soon as he hung up, his phone started to ring again.

"Hello?"

A deep voice cleared his throat. "Mr. Smythe, this is security. We have your girlfriend down here with us in the office and we need you to come pick her up. She was giving old Mrs. Emily Roberts on the second floor a hard time. We were able to convince her to not press charges as long as Miss Lopez leaves her alone on the future."

Sebastian groaned, running a hand along his face. "I am so sorry about that. I'll come down to get her now."

"And Mr. Smythe, your Miss Lopez says that she's going to kill you for letting her go to beat an old woman. Are you sure you don't want to send someone else to get her?" He could hear the amusement in the man's voice.

"No, I'll get her. I've already established that she likes me too much to kill me."


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Hi! I'm back! I don't think I've started this yet but the chapters week be relatively short until the proposal. Anyways, as always, enjoy.

* * *

STEP 2: Call Artie. Ask him to help you make "the video"

Stealing Santana 's phone was a mission in itself. Sebastian wanted to make a video for his proposal but his skills with digital media didn't extend far beyond Photoshop so he needed help. When he wrote his to-do list he remembered that kid on the wheelchair from high school was in film school, but Sebastian realized too late that he didn't have Artie's contract info. However, Santana, having shared club activities with the boy, did have his number.

The girl's phone was attached to her hip twenty-four seven. He couldn't ask her for it, that was for damn sure but it was nearly impossible to get a hold of it. As day after day passed he grew desperate. He finally managed to sneak into the bathroom while she was showering. Of course she caught him in the room right after he had managed to write it down but he was easily able to cover his tracks by suggesting a round of shower sex.

With Artie's number in hand, he was ready call while Santana was at the salon.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Artie. This is Sebastian Smythe from high school."

"Oh hey, man. What's up?"

"Actually, I need your help with something."

"Oh, that's right! I heard you were dating Santana. I was afraid something like this might happen."

"Something like what?"

"Is she forcing you to be in a relationship? Is she abusing you physically or mentally?"

"No! No, actually-"

"If she's in the room with you then use code if your afraid."

"Wha-"

"Tell me that you want pepperoni pizza if she's abusing you. I'll call the police and-"

"Artie! I'm fine! Santana isn't forcing me into anything. I need your help making a video."

"Are you sure? Fear can make you do and feel strange things. You aren't convincing yourself that you're happy with her in some-preservation your of thing, are you?"

"No! I am perfectly sane and happy with her."

"Oh, well that's a relief. So what kind of video do you want to make?"

"I'm proposing to her and-"

"Willingly?"

"Yes willingly! Anyways, I want to make a video for the proposal and I was really hoping you could help me."

"Oh yeah, sure. I'll be visiting my parents in Lima in three weeks. If that is cool with you, do you think you can meet me there?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. I'll book a flight down."

"Cool. Sounds like a plan. But if you change your mind you can call me again. You know, just say pepperoni pizza and I'll call the cops for you."

"Thanks, man."

Step two: complete.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: OMG, she updated! I know, it's taken me forever but both my tablet and laptop took a dump last summer and I lost all the writing I had done for this story and I lost the motivation to finish it (read: I got depressed because I lost my work). But I got a new laptop finally, since writing on tablets is hard, and I kicked myself out of my depression to pick this story up again. Anyways, please enjoy!

* * *

STEP 3: Make the video

Returning home to Lima while hiding his reason for doing so from Santana was surprisingly easy. Apparently his mother had been trying to get a hold of him to see if he could come home and organize the things he had left behind and she had told Santana to ask for her. When Sebastian told his girlfriend that he was going home for a week she had just assumed that his mother had finally reached him. So Santana drove him to the airport, walked him to his gate, gave him a kiss and sent him on his way.

If only making his damn proposal video had been so easy.

The day before filming Sebastian called Artie to go over the details of the video. He told Sebastian he wanted to do a dramatization of his life with Santana, ending with a portrayal of his proposal. Artie had claimed that it was a great idea and the he would make it work.

Obviously the two men had different ideas of what "making it work" meant.

Artie had him meet at the their old high school early that morning. According to him, as the lighting changed through the day and the multiplicity of resources the school offered they could film as many scenes as they wanted with as many settings as they could set up. It all sounded good until Sebastian showed up to the school. His jaw immediately dropped.

There were upwards of twenty people walking around the school dressed in anything from jedi robes to dress suites, ranging in ages from an elementary schoolgirl to a retired man old enough to be his great grandfather.

"Artie, what's going on?" Sebastian asked the wheelchair clad boy. Artie spun around, his eyes wide and wild.

"I had a dream last night, dude, and it was a vision," his words came out rushed and full of excitement. "I woke up in a cold sweat and knew exactly what we had to do to make this movie a masterpiece."

Sebastian sighed and bent at the knees. "Thanks a lot man, but I just wanted to make a short simple video, not a Sundance Film Festival award winner."

Artie gave the other boy a disparaging look. "No, man. You are proposing, and to Santana Lopez of all people. She will have your balls if it isn't perfect."

Again, Sebastian sighed but he went along with the plan.

They started with two children meeting in elementary school. It was smooth until the girl puked on the boy and he puked on her and they both ended up in tears. That scene was cut.

They moved on to middle school. Actor Sebastian broke into song and backup dancers dressed as French mimes rolled in. It too was going well until a mime tripped, knocked actor Sebastian out and the mimes silently started to panic. That scene was cut too.

The next scene where Jedi Sebastian battled his inner dark side that looked eerily similar to Darth Maul in drag as Santana Lopez looked promising until Darth Maultana, as Sebastian began to affectionately call her, got face paint into her contact lenses. It was easily fixed by taking out the contacts but the actress was as blind as a bat and looked more like she was trying to swing at a pińata than a sith lord. Cut.

They couldn't even get to the "old lovey dovey couple" scenes that Artie was looking forward to since both the old man and woman's meds kicked in. Both were snoring next to the meager snack table, cups of coffee held precariously in their hands.

Sebastian sat with his head in his hands, rubbing at his temples to relieve the headache that was the day. At the rate they were going the video was never going to get done. But he was a quick thinker, thanks to years spent with Santana, and he came up with a solution. Grabbing the cue cards and a marker, he wrote a few lines on the blank sides of each card, all of them coming together to form a full message ending with his proposal. He asked Artie to film him as he held each card up one at a time until he had run out of cards. The video was less than five minutes.

"It's short and simple, but it is raw and powerful. I will add some music and it will be a video worthy of Santana Lopez" Artie smiled after he stopped recording.

"Thanks a lot, man" Sebastian replied. _For a day of stress_, he thought to himself.


	5. Chapter 5

STEP 4: Ask drive-ins for a favor. Or pay them. Either one works as long as they say yes.

Sebastian Smythe had no idea why in the entire world he thought this step was going to be easy. He thought he'd just call up the the manager, request that they play his proposal video after whatever movie that he would take Santana to see and that would be that. But no! Nothing in this world was ever easy for him.

FIrstly, there was a protocol for screening anything publicly. He had to get permission from the city to play the film for an audience, which involved a pre-screening by city representatives. Then he had to bring in the video for a pre-screening at the drive-in to determine if it was age appropriate for the audience that would be sitting for it. Then he had to sit with the film attendant that would be playing the movie to time and sync it with the rest of the pictures. And lastly, he had to pay a five hundred dollar fee to the owner of the drive-in theater for them to play it. It was a mess.

After getting off of the phone with the theater manager, whose flaming, fabulous, slightly feminine male voice had been starting to give Sebastian a headache, the young man was ready to rip his hair out from the roots. The fee he didn't mind paying but the whole process of getting his video played would take him a month at best and he only had two weeks. What the hell was he supposed to do?

He could bribe the owner. But from what the manager had told him about the woman, she seemed to be pretty strict about following protocol. No go.

He could take the owner and manager hostage and torture them until they gave in to his demands. No there too. He couldn't very well get married if he was incarcerated.

He could do a half naked sexy dance for the obviously gay manager to get him to skip protocol and make sure his video is played.

Hmm, that could work.

"Hey, baby!" Sebastian yelled as he rummaged through his and Santana's shared closet. "Are any of my designer jeans clean?"

"Yeah," Santana called back, "they're in the dryer. Why do you need them?"

Oh no, think fast Sebastian. "I'm going to the mall to pick up an anniversary gift for my parents. I don't want to look out of place."

Please work. Please work work work. "Oh, okay. Do you need me to come with you?"

Safe! "No, baby, that's alright. I'm going to try to be quick so I can pick up dinner at that restaurant you like before they close."

"Alright then. Hurry home before I starve!"

Sebastian retrieved a pair of jeans from the dryer, pulled on the most form fitting v-neck shirt he owned, kissed Santana and rushed from the apartment. Now he had to quickly make his way to the drive-in theater on one side of town before rushing to the other side to pick up dinner all within the next two hours. He could tell Santana he couldn't find a gift and avert that question too.

And of course there had to be traffic.

It took forty-five minutes for Sebastian to make it to the theater, a drive that should have taken twenty. He ran to the office and prayed the manager would still be in as he politely knocked.

"Come on in."

He pushed in and sure enough, sitting at a desk was a face to match the voice he had spoken to over the phone. "Uh, yeah, hi. I called earlier about getting my proposal video played here."

The man, somewhere in his thirties, smiled up at Sebastian. "Oh, hello. I'm sorry honey but there is surely nothing I can do for you until you get city clearance and the owner's approval."

Well, here goes nothing.

Sebastian walked around to the manager's side of the desk, pulled his shirt off his head, leaned back against the table, crossed his arms, and smirked down at the now blushing man before him. "Are you absolutely sure there's nothing you can do. What anyone else doesn't know won't hurt them," Sebastian purred in the huskiest voice he could manage.

The manager sat back and looked him up and down. Sebastian was going to have nightmares of this moment for the rest of his life. "I'm sure I can be persuaded," the manager said.

Sebastian flashed his pearly white teeth as he reached for the zipper on his pants. The manager's eyes followed his fingers as he slowly pulled down his zipper to reveal the Calvin Klein stamped waistband of his briefs. He tried not to cringe as the other man wiped drool from the corner of his mouth. "I'm really sorry. I'd love to make this last a bit longer but I'm expected to bring dinner home within an hour so I really need to be going". Sebastian bent at the waist to bring his lips to the manager's ear. He let his hot breath fan onto the man's neck as he continued in a whisper, "Are you absolutely sure there is nothing you can do for me."

The manager cleared his throat and straightened in his chair. "I'm sure I can figure something out. Email me the video and I'll email back to you with a time I can play it on the day you requested."

Sebastian flashed him another white smile as he too straightened. "Thank you very much. You've helped me in more ways than you could imagine" and with that Sebastian grabbed his shirt, let his unbuttoned pants slide an inch below his hips before he turned and strutted from the room.

He would take this moment with him to the grave.


	6. Chapter 6

AN: This one is going to be another phone convo short. I feel like I mentioned before that I was going to keep the chapters short until the actual proposal, so please don't hate me. I'm trying to get this done quickly so I can move on to my other works with a clear conscience. To avoid confusion, normal text will be Sebastian, **bold is Rachel, **_and italic is Kurt_. I hope that helps.

* * *

STEP 5: Call her friends. Ask them to take her out on the morning of to get primped. They MUST be discreet.

For the proposal Sebastian knew that Santana would never forgive him if he did it when she wasn't looking her best. Luckily for him, booking an appointment at a spa was a lot easier than booking their dinner reservations. He arranged for her and two friends to spend the morning being pampered. All he had to do now was make sure her friends could accompany her.

Santana had a lot of friends but two of her closest ones from high school had pursued their careers in New York. Sebastian knew asking them to spend time with her on the day of his proposal was a risky move but he wanted to make the day perfect for her. He just prayed that they wouldn't ask too many questions or let slip to her what he had planned.

"**Hello, who is this?"**

"Hey Rachel, this is Sebastian, from high sch-"

"**Oh my gosh! It's been forever! Santana talks about you all of the time. How are you?"**

"I'm great, yeah. Look, I was hoping you and Kurt could help me out with something."

"**Oh, sure. Hold on. Kurt! Come here, I'm putting Sebastian on speakerphone."**

"_Hey honey, what's up?"_

"Hey Kurt. I have a favor to ask from the two of you."

"**Go ahead and shoot. I'm sure we can do whatever you need from us."**

"_Whatever you need."_

"**Kurt, don't make it weird."**

"_It's only weird if he doesn't like it."_

"**Of course he doesn't like, do you Sebastian?"**

"Uh, actually-"

"_That's no fair. You put him into a position where he probably feels obligated to say he thinks I'm weird."_

"**And you're not doing the same thing?"**

"Guys…"

"_Of course I'm not doing the same thing. Bitch, everyone loves me."_

"**Well maybe, if you took your head out of your-"**

"Guys! Hello, I'm still here!"

"**Oh, sorry. What were you saying?"**

"Okay, well I was hoping that on April thirtieth that you two would accompany Santana to the salon. I'll be paying for everything, obviously."

"**Sounds exciting! Is there any special reason for doing this."**

"_I bet he's planning something big."_

"**Oh my god, like a proposal!"**

"_Aah! He's going to propose!"_

"**We should totally call Santana and congratulate her!"**

"No, guys, please! I want to surprise her!"

"_So you are proposing."_

"Yeah, I'm proposing and I want it to be perfect, so please. Don't tell her."

"**Okay, okay. We'll keep our mouths shut."**

"_Yeah, but what do we get in return for keeping this secret?"_

"Caffeine and a free spa day with all the works with your best friend."

"_Oh, fine. I guess that will have to do."_

"**We're in. Oh, I'm so excited. We'll try to keep quiet but it's going to be hard."**

"I know, but thanks so much for helping out. I'll talk to you guys later."


	7. Chapter 7

AN: So I literally just realized that I when I wrote the first chapter of this fic I didn't add "Ask Santana's father for her hand" as a step which is such a shame because it would have made for a hilarious chapter. So, since I apparently had a major brain fart, we are going to pretend that Santana's father is not involved in her life (death or divorce). Super depressing, I know, but now we can pretend that she's over it.

* * *

STEP 6: Ask mom, and her mom, for rings

Sebastian knew that Santana would forever hate him if he didn't get the perfect ring for her. He also knew that there was no way he could possibly find the perfect ring without bringing her along to pick her own. For obvious reasons he couldn't do that but he knew that she wouldn't hate a ring that had sentimental value. His best bet was asking for her recently deceased abuela's ring from her mother.

On an afternoon that Santana had class Sebastian called Santana's mother who was beyond excited to hear that he was going to propose. Unfortunately for him, Grandma Lopez had pawned off her engagement ring after a house fire in the 1940's. She had also offered to give him her ring if he couldn't find one that was to his liking. He thanked her and called his mother. Luckily, his mother still had his grandmother's antique wedding ring sitting in a box with other family heirlooms. She offered to mail it but he wanted to personally pick it up just in case Santana chanced upon it in the mail.

He flew to Lima the first chance he got; Santana was surprisingly okay with this. His mother picked him up and asked him for all of the details of the proposal, which he was glad to explain. Being able to talk about it with someone helped lessen the stress that was starting to weigh in on him.

"Here we are," his mother sang as she pulled the ring from a box of family heirlooms. She handed it to him and he examined it for the first time in years. It was a beautiful silver ring with two decently sized European cut diamonds in a pear shaped center, surrounded by a ring of diamond accents, the band of the ring hand engraved with a victorian vine. It was a stunning ring that he knew Santana would love showing off to her friends.

"Sebastian!"

He turned to the flushed face of his preteen cousin, Shelly. Her braces shined at him as she smiled wide, her arms flung open as she ran to him. He easily caught her and spun her around. "Wow, you've gotten so big and beautiful. What are you doing here?"

Shelly giggled as he put her down, "I'm here for the weekend. My mom and dad have an important seminar to attend in L.A. and they couldn't bring me along."

His hand ruffled her hair. "Well, that's cool. It's more fun here anyways. You can play with all of my old video games."

Her smile widened before her eyes fell on the ring in his hand, her lips immediately dropping. "What are you doing with that?" she asked.

"Uhh, I'm proposing to my girlfriend and I was going to give her this ring," he said, unsure of why she suddenly seemed upset.

He had underestimated the level of upset. The girl burst into uncontrollable tears and hiccups, trying to talk through the mucus in her throat.

Sebastian heard his mother gasp beside him. When he looked, her hand covered her mouth and her eyes were wide. She turned to Sebastian with guilt written all over her face. "I'm so sorry. I completely forgot that I promised Shelly that she could have that ring when she grew up."

He looked from his mother to the wailing girl. She was the only Smythe borne female in the family seeing as his mother had married into the name. Of course she would want her grandmother's engagement ring.

Of course his life wasn't that easy.

"Shelly, I was just kidding," he tried to calm her. "I already have a ring so I'm going to put this back in it's safe place for you."

The girl hiccupped a few times before she could speak again. "Really, you don't need it?"

He smiled and pat her head again. "Of course not. It was promised to you so I would never take it."

The preteen's smile returned and he put the ring back in the box. "Mom, I'll just visit Ms. Lopez."

She smiled with relief. Sebastian later called Ms. Lopez to ask if she would still give him her ring to which she agreed. She promised to come over the next day before he had to fly back to New York.

The next day Sebastian walked into the kitchen to the sight of his mother and Santana's mother cooing over the sink. His mother was the first to notice him standing in the entryway. "Oh, Sebastian! Come here and look at the ring. Santana is going to love it."

The young man smiled and took a step forward only to stop dead in his tracks when he heard the ring of metal on metal. He ran to the sink just in time to see the ring fall into the drain and hear it cling down the pipe. "Please, Mom, please tell me that there is a catch in the pipes."

Silence.

Of course there wasn't.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart. It just slipped from my fingers," Ms. Lopez apologized with the deepest regret. He looked at her and gave her a tired smile.

"It's alright. It's not the end of the world. I'll find one," he said. The woman rubbed his arm and offered to drive him to the airport, to which he accepted. On the way there he stressed on what to do. In a last ditch effort, he asked Ms. Lopez if they could stop at a pawn shop before the airport. He wanted to get a good look at as many rings as he could before he bought one.

Inside the store he and Ms. Lopez separated, looking at different ends of the jewelry case. All of the rings he was looking at were beautiful, but none of them screamed Santana. From the other end of the counter he heard Ms. Lopez ask the attendant if she could take a closer look at a ring in the case. The attendant handed her the ring and she covered her mouth. Worried, Sebastian hurried to her as tears started to fall. She handed him the ring: an art deco frame box frame holding a princess cut pink diamond on a simple gold band. Along the inside of the band the initials AL were engraved.

"That was my mother's ring. Azucena Lopez" Santana's mother sniffed.

What were the chances. All of the stress he had gone through to get Santana a ring only to find the one he originally wanted in the unlikeliest of places. Life sure did like to fuck with him.


	8. Chapter 8

STEP 7: Take rings into shop for sizing and setting. Do NOT forget to steal one of her rings to match the size

Of all the things that could have gone wrong, of course this had to be one of them.

Sebastian had waited two whole days for Santana to leave the apartment long enough for him to go through her jewelry box. Firstly, the contents of the box were in complete disarray. He knew she was meticulous in her organization with the rest of the house so he had expected her vanity to be the same, but he was entirely wrong. Her nice, luxury items were neatly arranged on the top, but the drawers were a cluster fuck. He spent ten minutes digging through makeup and hair ties to find the small jewelry box stashed in the back corner of one bottom drawer.

He promised himself that he would buy her a better box for her jewelry.

After another few minutes of shifting around necklaces and poking his fingers with earing ends, he managed to pull out six rings. Of the six rings, Santana had put hot glue on four so they would better fit her fingers, and the other two had been cut to be widened. No of them were true to her finger size.

He didn't know what to do. He was less than two weeks away from the proposal and if the engagement ring didn't slide on to her finger effortlessly and snugly hug the digit then he might as well just throw in the towel. He didn't want to imagine the look on her face when she saw her grandmother's ring only for it to not fit her manicured finger.

What was he going to do?

Well, like any smart man in his twenties would do, he asked google. There were a multitude of stories from men on how they got their wives ring size without hinting to their reason for it. One man had made a cast of her hand while she was sleeping. Too weird and too much work. Another man had her help him make ring shaped cookies by wrapping the dough around their fingers before baking. Unluckily for him, the dough spread as it baked and didn't hold their shape. And another man spent a month holding his wife's hand in all of his spare time to memorize the exact shape of her fingers. I little too obsessive.

In the end, the most promising idea came from a man who had tied a string around her finger. That was something he could do.

But how to do it.

That evening, when Santana had returned home she found Sebastian sitting in the middle of their living room with all of her stuffed animals (she thought those were all packed away) on the floor around him, yards of red ribbon tying various ones together. "Babe, if you're practicing tying a noose, you're doing it wrong."

He smirked at her as he strung together another pair of dolls. "I'm not tying nooses, I'm binding soul-mates", he said only realizing afterwards that he sounded crazy.

"That makes no fucking sense. Are you high? Cuz this looks like something high people do. All you're missing are the snacks," Santana teased, sitting next to him on the floor regardless.

He picked up another ribbon and began to tie one end around his ring finger. "No, I'm not high. I just read about this thing called the red string of fate. It's supposed to be an invisible string that connects you to the person you're supposed to be with," he smiled as he drew her hand towards him.

"Then you're definitely drunk. You say and do weird gay shit when you're out of it," she smirked but let him take her hand, watching him wrap the other end of the ribbon connected to him around her finger. "Next thing I know, you'll be conducting weddings for Mr. Stuffy Bear and Carl."

"Yeah, why did you name a llama wearing plastic glasses Carl?"

She reached with her free hand for the doll which she held up between them. "When you squint, he looks like that round kid from Jimmy Neutron who loved llamas. It made sense when I was nine."

Sebastian finished stringing them together, lifting the joined hands dor her viewing. Santana gave him an amused smile before kissing him and sliding the string off to go make dinner. Checking to make sure she wasn't looking his way, he untied himself and slipped the string with the loop hole of her finger into his pocket.

The next day at the jeweler…

"Sir, you do realize that this ring already matches the size of the string?"

"Dammit!"


	9. Chapter 9

AN: This was going to be another short conversation chapter because I've kind of lost a lot of motivation for this story. But as I got to writing my motivation was "Poof, I'm back bitch". I wanted to put these two into a setting we haven't seen them in but I was hoping would be endearing. Anyways, enjoy.

* * *

STEP 8: Ask Santana out on a date

It was the Thursday before the proposal and Sebastian's nerves were finally getting to him; he was choosing to pretend that his plan had been executed flawlessly thus far. However, he was not going to ignorantly expect nothing to go wrong with the rest of his preparations. He still had to ask Santana out on a date and he was sure something was bound to go wrong. Suspicious was Santana's middle name (her second middle name being Evil) and while they had gone out together plenty of times to do couple things, he had never actually asked her out for a date. He thought about it and decided that it might be best to ask her if she'd like to go out for an "activity" rather than a date.

That night he laid in bed waiting for Santana to join him. It had been a long day for the both of them. He was still completing his residency and his hospital workload that day had been especially tiring. On the other hand, Santana had a diva moment in rehearsal that day for the production she was currently working in. They had both come home that day ready to hit the pillows.

Sebastian had just set aside a reference book on airborne bacteria when Santana finally emerged from the bathroom clad in his old high school lacrosse shirt. The sight of her at the end of the day, no make-up, hair down, in her pajamas, was something he felt he would never grow tired of. She scratched at her head and rubbed tiredly at her eyes as she made her way to him, climbing into the bed and curling into his side. He winced as she pressed her cold feet against his thighs but he knew that there was nothing he could say to get her to remove them. Instead, he wrapped an arm around her and pressed a kiss into her forehead, grateful for the calm moments like this.

"Baby, I was thinking of watching a movie at the drive-in Sunday evening. I figured we could grab dinner and then relax at the theater," Sebastian murmured, running his thumb along her bicep in slow strokes.

Santana ran her hand across his abs before responding. "Hmm, maybe next weekend. There's supposed to be a party on Sunday night celebrating the new show season. I heard that there are going to be a few big producers there so I want to make an appearance."

Sebastian's heart sank. He hadn't planned on her being occupied that evening. And even if she was, he would have never expected it to actually be important plans. He knew exactly how much her acting career meant to her and he didn't want to get in the way of an opportunity she found promising. But he didn't have a backup plan himself. He'd have to start all over. Maybe he could just reschedule everything. He wondered if she wouldn't mind him popping the question after the party at that as well.

"Oh, that's cool. Maybe I can go with you. You know, be your sexy arm candy"he tried to joke to keep down the bulge in his throat.

Her head twisted sharply as she shot him a glare. "Hell fucking no. Everyone there is a wolf. If they're not trying to get into your pants then they're trying to scout you and there is no way I'm going to let either fly. I've been hiding you for so long because I can't build my reputation as an actress if I'm beating bitches away from you."

Wait, what? "Is that why you never invite me to company parties, or let me join you for lunch at work?"

"Yeah, that's right. You're handsome as hell and if they got you to sing then you'd be ripped away from me. I worked my ass off to get you. I'd be damned if I let you go so easily."

How was Sebastian supposed to be upset when she was so precious to him? He decided that rescheduling the proposal would be worth it for her.

"Besides," she began again, "when I walk on the red carpet I'd look so much better with a hot doctor on my arm instead of another man-tool actor."

Of course.

* * *

The next morning Sebastian sat down with a timeline for his proposal, trying to think of the best way to reschedule everything before he finalized it with a few phone calls. As he lifted his cell to make the first call to the restaurant it began to ring in his hand. "Hello," he answered.

"Hey babe. I got the dates mixed up for the party and it's actually next weekend so we can go out on Sunday if you still want to."

Sebastian felt several veins in his head and neck twitch. Really, what was a little more unnecessary stress when proposing to the woman you love? "Yeah, I still want to go out. Don't plan anything else for Sunday then."

He got off the phone with Santana hoping this was all going to be worth it in the end.


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Almost there! The next chapter will be the last

* * *

STEP 9: Get a haircut

The day before his proposal Sebastian was really feeling the pressure. Luckily, all he had left to do was get a haircut before he was ready for the big day. There was no way anything could go wrong.

RIght?

To be safe, earlier that week he made an appointment with his regular barber. He wanted to be sure that he could walk in, be seated, get his usual haircut with his usual hairdresser, and leave. And that was exactly what happened to begin with.

He walked into the salon, was greeted by name, and sat immediately. Then Michael, the man who cut his hair monthly since he had moved to New Jersey, walked over to him, shook his hand, and asked him how life was going.

"Oh, life's a bit crazy right now," Sebastian started. "I'm proposing to Santana tomorrow so I'm pretty stressed but I've planned it to the T."

Michael slapped him on the back, laughing heartily. "Well, good luck. I'll be sure to fix you up well."

They started with a wash which seemed fine until Sebastian's head began to burn and a chemical smell reached his nose. "Uh, Michael. Why does my head burn?"

The hairdresser glanced down at him before lifting the bottle of shampoo he had used. His eyes widened before a well used expletive left his mouth. "I'm so sorry Sebastian! I used a shampoo dye, but it can be fixed. Well just use some color remover and it'll come right out."

A little peeved but not one to bother over something that could be fixed, Sebastian let the hairdresser carry on and do what he needed to do. So half an hour later he had changed from black hair to an ash brown, a far cry from his rich chestnut color. "Well, we could dye your hair to it's previous color but you'll be here another two hours at least."

Sebastian, with no other options, agreed to the dye. So he sat for another twenty minutes getting dye put in his hair and then for another two hours to let it set. When Michael pulled off the cap he claimed that the color looked good and that it was ready to be rinsed. Unfortunately, the dye remover they had used to get out the original color from the shampoo didn't allow for the second dye to stick so the corrective color slipped out of his hair during under the running water.

He had been sitting in the salon for three hours, a whole two and a half more than he usually spent, and he was tired and ready to go. "You know, it's summer and the lighter color won't be that bad. Let's just clean up the cut."

Michael smiled apologetically, assuring him that his visit that day would be free of charge as he set up his scissors and razor. He clipped on a short guard to start around Sebastian ears as usual. Unfortunately, the guard had not been secured and it slipped off the razor as Michael made a pass through Sebastian's hair, leaving a large bald streak on the side of his head.

"You know what, Michael? I'm done for today. Obviously this is not working for us right now so I'm just going to go. I'll see you next month." Sebastian seethed, trying to be as civil as one could after having his hair completely ruined.

Once in his car, he called up Santana hoping she would be able to help. "Baby, my hairdresser totally fucked up my hair and now I have a bald spot. What do you think I should do? Should I just go back and get the rest shaved?"

He heard her laugh on the other end. "Just go visit the beauty shop where I get my hair done. They'll put a weave in for you and it'll be good as new."

The thought of visiting a beauty shop terrified Sebastian. "Can men get weaves? Won't it look weird?"

"Men get them all of the time. And it won't look weird at all. You never notice when I have extensions anyways. I'll text you the directions and call them up to let them know you're coming and what you need."

Sebastian hesitated but he was desperate enough to give it a try. So he followed the directions Santana sent him and his anxiety grew as he noticed he was headed into the hood. But he had always been taught not to judge a book by it's cover so he pushed through until he found the beauty shop Santana was a regular to.

He pushed open the door and was greeted by a tall, round black woman with a large white smile and open arms. "Well look at this handsome young man here. Baby girl was right when she said you were fine. So you need a weave?"

Sebastian had never felt more awkward in his life. "Uh, yes ma'am. My hairstylist accidentally lightened my hair and shaved the side of my head. Can you fix it."

The women walked to him and ran her hands through his hair, examining it closely. "Sure thing, honey. We'll have to shave it down completely to make it easier for your hair to grow back, and we'll get rid of this color. We also have a lot of weave colors to choose from so you can find one that matches your true hair."

Sebastian didn't quite know what to think but at this point he had no choice but to play along. So he let himself be led to a chair where the large woman, named Brendy as he found out, began working on his hair. Although she explained everything that was happening, he was still on the edge of his chair when he felt the razor go over his head. She then proceeded to explain that she would use an adhesive on his scalp as she laid down the rows of weave he had chosen and that it would remain secure as long as he didn't try to wash it, to which he was grossed out but agreed. He watched in the mirror as she spun the hair around his head and it magically adhered to his scalp. She then took individual locks and made his edges look more natural. By the time his head was completely covered he looked like a hippie.

"Now Santana also sent me a photo of what your hair normally looks like after a cut. Do you want me to replicate that for you?"

Sebastian nodded and Brendy got back to working on his hair. Ten minutes later he stared at himself in the mirror looking exactly how he should have looked if his hairstylist had done his job right. "Wow," he exclaimed, "this is incredible!"

Brendy slapped his back hard and laughed beautifully. "I'm glad you like it, sweetie. You came in here shaking like a leaf in the wind, acting like we were gonna eat you," she joked and the other women in the shop found this hilarious. He smiled good naturedly and thanked her for her help.

And that is the story about how Sebastian visited a beauty shop and got a weave. And also the story of how he changed hairdressers.


End file.
